this. reporter: and he did point to prevention, talked about things like managing the forest. but made it very clear that more needs to be done. he also thanked the 8500 men and women who are working to stop this fire. camilla burnell, cnn, paradise, california. wildfires in greece have been burning out of control for days. thousands of people have e evacuated their homes, some having to take ferries to safety. one woman said it s like a horror movie. across the country, fires have destroyed dozens of homes and businesses and at least one person has died. our reporter joins me now live. good to see you, linda. of course, it is a desperate situation in some parts of greece. what is the latest on these wildfires? reporter: the island here is right behind me, but it s so
without weighing it down. try pantene. firefighters are racing to contain the dixie wildfire in northern california. the fire is now the second largest in state history. it s burned through more than 750 square miles so far. to put that in context, the burned area is now more than three times the size of chicago. and right now, the fire is just 21% contained and still growing. while the exact cause of the dixie fire is still under investigation, california s governor says one thing is clear, climate change is making wildfire seasons worse. reporter: the smoke is thick and unhealthy. if you look behind me, you re
the governor of florida clashes with president biden over covid restrictions as the virus surges in the state of florida. plus, ohio s democratic congressional nominee, chantel brown, on the primary race that propelled her into the national spotlight. and the republican opponent she ll face in november. we ll talk about all of that with her coming up. but first, today s top news stories. yasmin? thanks, rev. stories we re watching this hour, florida is reporting the highest number of covid cases since the beginning of this pandemic. the state recorded more than 23,000 new cases and 93 deaths on friday. more than 13,000 people are hospitalized. also a state record. the dixie wildfire in northern california is officially the third largest blaze in state history. on friday the fire grew by 110
the dixie wildfire in northern california has exploded in size. it is now the largest wildfire burning in the country and fire officials say there s going to be a long fight against it. the historic mountain town of greenville is in ruins. look at this. more than 100 homes, destroyed there. that s practically nothing left on main street. meantime, the river wildfire is raging just 80 miles south and has already destroyed dozens of buildings. cnn s josh campbell is in chico, california, near the dixie wildfire. so what are you hearing there, seeing from the people who live there and the people trying to stop that fire? reporter: victor, we re getting new details on that devastation that hit the town of greenville. we re told that over 100 homes were devastated.
at 35% containment. victor, of course, as we cover these, we have to talk about the cause. experts continue to tell us that climate change is at play here. we re also hearing from veteran firefighters about this trend, something they ve never seen, take a listen to what one senior firefighter said. we re seeing truly frightening fire behavior, and i don t know how to overstate that, but you know, we have a lot of veteran firefighters who have served for 20, 30 years and have never seen behavior like this. reporter: so, the work of these thousands of firefighters continues here as they try to stop this blaze. as you mentioned, victor, this fire now, the largest fire burning in the nation. all right, josh campbell for us there in chico. josh, thank you. it s not just california. firefighters are battling large wildfires in more than a dozen states, close to 2 million acres have gone up in smoke and flames. president obama president biden, i should say says urgent action is need